A Response from FWPD?

From my previous post, you probably realize that I believe that FWPD has seriously mishandled the situation here. There are, in fact, some actions of certain officers which I feel should be criminally investigated. But this assumption jumps quite a bit ahead of where I am presently at in the story. It took several years for my view to evolve from seeing this as just some unprofessional mistakes being made by a few patrol officers to a coordinated effort by FWPD to allow the drug activity here to go on unchallenged.

A lot of information is needed to take you from the early years to the point where I developed this strong opinion. My plan had been to take you through my stories in a chronological order, so that you might better understand my perspective. I didn’t want to lump everything together by just saying “Something bad happened to me ten times.” Instead, I wanted to relay each story individually, so that by the tenth time, you too would be outraged. With an aggregate view, you would just see this as one big offense, but the detailed view shows that it is really a long and constant chain of repeated offenses.

But what began as a reply to a reader’s comment ended up going directly to the heart of the matter. I believe that FWPD engaged in a long-term and coordinated effort to disallow me from working with them to address the issues here. I believe that unnecessarily allowed the drug dealers to effectively rule this neighborhood for several years. And it is that situation that directly led to the circumstances under which three fire-bombs were thrown at my home in October of 2006.

The reason that I focused my attention on the FWPD Command Staff is because they collectively hold responsibility for the actions of the entire department. Personally, I have only interacted with six of these eighteen officers, but that does not excuse the rest. If they were unaware of my plight prior to October 2006, then they are dangerously ignorant. If they were aware of it, then they apparently acted with disregard for my safety. FWPD may not be the source of the problems here, but I stand by my claim that they have been a significant enabler.

But of course, providing for a better future is much more important than just complaining about the miserable past. Whether it is the overly emboldened dealers, the frequently ambivalent neighbors, or the recalcitrant FWPD, I am willing to engage anyone in useful dialogue. If people who have formerly worked against me show that they are no longer doing so, then my disposition towards them will quickly improve. With that in mind, I would like to relay to you a story that happened very recently.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008; 14:30 I heard people talking outside and went to check on it. Sometimes when this happens I’ll just open the door and walk right out to announce my presence. This usually has a quick dampening effect on any untoward activities. Sometimes the people there leave the area, sometimes they just remain and stare at me, but most of the time they will simply walk across the street to occupy one of the other corners.

Other times, I will just watch and listen unobserved to gain some insight on what is going on. In this case I decided to look first, and am very glad that I did because I would not have wanted to interfere with what was going on at that time. A FWPD patrol car was parked beside my house and Officer Jefferson was standing there with two of the regulars from around here and another that is relatively new to the area. They were all young though, I believe the oldest of them now being twenty three.

Because the patrol car was parked the wrong direction and at a slight angle, I assumed there was a search and/or arrest taking place. But after scoping the surrounding area I realized that Officer Jefferson was alone, and he was just talking with the three. From the tone of the conversation I assume that Officer Jefferson personally knew these guys, at least casually. For the most part, he spoke as a concerned older brother might.

Officer Jefferson was confronting them about their activities and the direction they were heading in. Several times he referred to how they were wasting their time out here on the streets, and challenged them to do better. He added a little coercion by talking about how much prison time they could get for some of the more serious crimes. Although they politely listened and even engaged in his conversation, it seemed obvious that these three would probably not be making any drastic changes to their lifestyle any time soon.

Perhaps sensing their stubbornness, Officer Jefferson then said “You can do what you want inside, we don’t care about that. If you want to mess yourself up, go ahead. But you’re out here, and that’s what I’m talking about.” One of the guys replied somewhat defiantly “If we’re doing it in there, then we’re going to be doing it out here.” But in spite of this, I think Officer Jefferson made his point that their activities would not go unchecked. Although it will certainly take time to tell the full effect of Officer Jefferson’s actions, it certainly can’t make the situation any worse.

If my recognition was correct, Officer Jefferson is a member of the FWPD Command Staff. I felt somewhat heartened to know that such a high ranking officer would personally engage himself in the matter in this way. With respect to that, I would like to thank the entire FWPD Command Staff for this positive effort. If I criticize you as a group, then it is only fair that my compliments should follow the same rule.

15:05 After Officer Jefferson left, the three guys walked to the other side of the street and were soon joined by a couple others. A few minutes later, a patrol car passed through the area. This was not Officer Jefferson, but Officer Rice, one of the regular patrol officers in this area. I can’t help but think that was coordinated. The nice guy just stops for a friendly chat and says he’s worried about their future, then the cop who does the arresting does a quick follow up. Sort of a good cop, bad cop thing as if to say “You can either choose to settle down, or you can be forced to.”

16:00 - 17:00 The area had been clear for almost an hour, then about six guys showed up in front of my house. I listened and watched for almost an hour before I saw one of them walk up to a vehicle that had stopped. They appeared to be doing business, so I called FWPD to report this. I gave them a detailed description of the vehicle, including that it had a temp. plate in the left, rear window, and it’s location and direction of travel. I also gave a description of the guy who had interacted with him, although I did not know his name.

Only a few minutes after I called, all of these guys suddenly evacuated the area. I assumed that an approaching police car was the cause of this, but none arrived. I watched for a few more minutes, and neither the police or any of the guys were in sight. Now, you might assume that something was broadcast over the police scanner that alerted these guys, but I was listening to the scanner myself and heard nothing. Sometimes coincidences really do occur, but you really do have to wonder about things like this.

After a few more minutes, I called FWPD back to report that the area appeared to be clear now. I simply told them if no officer was presently en route, that it would probably be best to just cancel it. I then called Officer Jefferson and left a voice message explaining what had just occurred. I also informed him that I had witnessed his actions here earlier today and that I appreciated the effort. I informed him that two of the guys he spoke with earlier were among this latest group.

I told Officer Jefferson that I try not to get involved with these guys but that I can not ignore it when they are standing in front of my house, to do so would be dangerous. I said that there are three other corners, including an empty lot, that they can stand on without bothering me. I told him as long as they are not bringing it to me, by standing in front of my house, then I don’t even see them. I left my number and invited Officer Jefferson to call if he felt we needed to talk about the situation.

18:00 Everybody had left and things were quiet here for almost an hour, then they started to return. I looked out and saw two of the guys from earlier today were standing on the corner across the street, but another was standing by my house. As I walked outside and stood on the porch, I noticed three other guys a little ways down the sidewalk looking at me with concern. They looked very young, possibly under eighteen. The guy by my house looked older (late twenties, early thirties) and although I have seen him around many times, I’ve never had much interaction with him yet.

I sat down on my front porch steps and casually surveyed the area. One of the guys across the street called to the guy by my house “Man, you can’t be on that corner.” This guy appeared to ignore them, but after a couple minutes he walked away. Two of the guys from down the street had joined the ones on the corner now. They remained there at least until I left the house a half hour later. When I returned a couple hours later, the are was clear and remained so for the remainder of the night.